The Supreme Court has, for the third time, adjourned the review application asking it to reconsider its decision to bar James Gyakye Quayson from holding himself as MP for the Assin North constituency.
The reason for the continuous adjournment remains unclear after the apex court had assured that the case was of extreme importance as the ban was still in place.
In its previous decision, the Supreme Court barred the embattled legislator from performing parliamentary duties.
Per the majority decision, the apex court said restraining Mr. Quayson for a few weeks for the substantive case to be determined “will not occasion any irreparable loss or damage to the applicant or anyone.”
In a 40-page judgment, the court said that “greater hardship, irreparable damage, and inconvenience will be occasioned to the constitution” should the embattled MP continue to perform parliamentary duties.
Aside from the 1992 constitution, the rule of law, the tenets of democracy, and Assin North constituents, Ghana will also be affected should the embattled MP continue to represent the constituents, the ruling said.
The judges noted that in the eyes of the law, the election of the first respondent (James Quayson) had been adjudged null, void, and of no legal effect by the Cape Coast High Court.
According to the apex court, until the said judgment by the High Court is vacated, overturned, or set aside, Mr. Quayson cannot be said to be lawfully performing the duties of an Honourable Member of Parliament.
But the apex court is yet to sit on the matter after it gave its ruling over a month ago.
The two other cases involving the embattled Member of Parliament before the apex court were also adjourned.
The first is his application to the Supreme Court against the Court of Appeal’s decision to strike out his appeal against the High Court’s verdict to remove him as Assin North MP.
The second case involves the interpretation of article 94(2)(a) of the 1992 constitution brought by Mr. Michael Ankomah-Nimfah, the plaintiff in the case. It was in the course of this matter that the Supreme Court granted Mr. Ankomah-Nimfah’s prayer to suspend Mr. James Gyakye Quayson as an MP temporarily.
When the case was called on Tuesday, 31 May, Justice Jones Dotse, presiding over another matter, announced the adjournment of the three cases involving the MP.
The apex court judge said a member of the panel was indisposed.
All three cases are now set for 14 June 2022.
The other panel members were Agnes Dordzie, Nene Amegatcher, Prof. Henrietta Mensah Bonsu, Mariama Owusu, Gertrude Torkornoo, and Emmanuel Yonny Kulendi, as panel members.
How it all started
A private citizen and a resident of Assin Berekum, Micheal Ankomah Nimfah, filed a suit at the Cape Coast High Court challenging the qualification of Mr. Quayson as the MP for the area.
The plaintiff, a mason, averred that when Mr. Quayson filed his nomination, he was still holding onto his Canadian citizenship and failed to denounce his citizenship as required by law.
Ghana’s laws bar dual citizens from holding public offices in Ghana.
In freezing the MP’s right to be in Parliament, the judge said: “the allegation contained is of grave nature, and he could not hold himself as MP.”
Also, the NDC MP-elect did not have the renunciation certificate to present before the court to confirm that he had indeed renounced his Canadian citizenship.
Although court documents showed the MP received his certificate on 26 November, at the time he filed his nomination, he did not have the requisite qualification.
NPP strategy
On 23 December 2020, the governing New Patriotic Party sought to trigger a by-election by challenging the eligibility of James Quayson to contest in the Assin North parliamentary elections, but he won.
Legal practitioner, Gary Nimako, asked the Ghana Immigration Service to confirm if the NDC MP-elect had renounced his Canadian citizenship before the 7 December parliamentary elections.